


The Consequences of Ill-Advised Flirting

by antigrav_vector



Series: Spiraling Ever Upward [11]
Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual James Rhodes, Bisexual Tony Stark, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, M/M, Multi, POV Tony Stark, Threesome - M/M/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 21:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19237864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: It had taken a couple of months for Nat and Pepper to stop reminding him about his faux pas, which meant the semester was almost over. Naturally, just before finals week was the timing they picked to spring a surprise on him.





	The Consequences of Ill-Advised Flirting

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed.
> 
> Since I'm done with the semester and taking a few days off to recover, I'm back to working on other things for a little while. That means y'all get a new installment of my college AU of my OT6 fic series [Like trying to stop an avalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/series/380455).

The end of the semester was approaching fast, and their weekly tabletop game sessions had been suspended for a couple of weeks so that everyone could focus on preparing for finals.

Well. Everyone except Tony.

He'd never bothered studying for an exam in his life and had no intention of starting now.

The extra free time had left him feeling at loose ends, untethered and oddly off balance, on the first Saturday they'd decided to skip. Sure, he'd quickly found something to do, but it had been... strange. Not being pried out of his workshop by Pepper to make the trip out to the tea house, as he'd gotten accustomed, had left him wandering his workshop aimlessly for a good five minutes before he'd been able to settle again.

He'd spent the afternoon continuing to work on his AI. 

The next Saturday, he'd gone through a similar process.

But now, finally, the two week long final exam period was over and Natasha had announced that they would go back to their weekly sessions, if everyone was going to be available through the break.

Not everyone had replied yet, though.

Rhodey, the traitor, was apparently about to break the news to his Carol about their poly triad and would be going home to visit his family, to boot. Pepper thought that was a smart decision, claiming that it would give Carol a chance to think things over and Rhodey as well.

Tony... well, he was a bit conflicted about the whole thing, still. On the one hand, he had to admit now that he'd met her a few times, that Carol was a pretty good match for his Platypus. But on the other, he still didn't want Rhodey to actually break things off with them, even if he'd started turning down invitations into their bed.

He would _miss_ Rhodey.

Tony was poly at heart, and he knew it. As much as he adored Pepper, he knew that he'd miss having a third in their relationship. Not even so much because they could have more fun in bed that way, but because having one more person with them balanced them both out. Rhodey, especially, was good at keeping them leveled out, stopped them from getting into any kind of real fight. They still bickered and occasionally squabbled, but things never progressed to a point where they actually got angry.

He and Pepper alone would be intense, would probably be the ride of both their lives, but they wouldn't last. It would be one of those relationships that lit up the sky like a flare and then faded away into resentment and bitterness.

"Tony," Pepper broke into his thoughts, "why are you staring at the wall like that?"

Biting back the first words that came to mind, Tony shrugged. "Thinking."

Huffing at him, Pepper shook her head. "Well, stop thinking and get your things together. We're meeting Natasha and her boys at the tea shop."

"But there's no session today," he protested halfheartedly. He was still kind of disappointed about that, to his own surprise. He had never expected that he'd have as much fun with Nat and her boyfriends as they had been.

That got him a Look. "Are you saying you don't want to?"

Tony gave in. "No, but I am a bit confused."

"People can meet and talk without needing to have a reason or motivation beyond that," his girlfriend reminded him. "Get moving or we'll be late."

Tony went.

It took them only slightly longer to get to their destination than usual, but Tony considered that acceptable. Pepper led him to their usual table without hesitation as soon as they were through the door, and Tony could see that the others had already ordered for him and Pepper.

This time, he resolved, he _would_ find a way to cover the cost of the snacks. Steve and Bucky were both apparently ninjas in a past life, with the way they routinely managed to slip away to pay the tab.

"Pepper," Natasha rose to greet her with a small pleased smile, "you made it."

"Tony resisted," Pepper replied and Tony gave her an outraged look. 

"Did not. Stop exaggerating," he grumbled.

Steve raised an eyebrow at him. "What kept you, then?"

"He just kept protesting, I bet," Bucky put in. "You know how he gets when you try to make him change direction."

Natasha's smile broadened a hair and her dimples deepened. "True," she agreed with Bucky, and Tony crossed his arms with a huff. 

Laughing at him, Pepper unsubtly nudged him toward a seat and then sat down beside him. "So how were your exams? Not too stressful?"

Tony mostly tuned out the small talk, not especially interested in hearing about the minutiae of exams he hadn't taken.

When Pepper leaned in and took Natasha's hand, though, that got his attention, as well as Steve's and Bucky's. Though they were good friends, Pepper and Natasha weren't all that physically demonstrative.

Mostly on Natasha's account, Tony knew. Pepper and he were pretty much always touching when they weren't working, but Nat preferred not to. She had her bubble of personal space that her boyfriends were allowed into, but the rest of the world was carefully kept at arm's reach.

So this was unusual.

"Is it time to finalise our agreement?" Natasha asked, her voice as calm and level as ever.

"Arrangement?" Tony had to ask as Steve and Bucky gave Pepper a pair of looks that Tony would have called bedroom eyes under other circumstances. 

Pepper gave Natasha a smile of her own, and leaned in. "I think it might be."

Natasha didn't hesitate, closing the distance between them to kiss Pepper soundly.

Tony couldn't help the slightly strangled shocked sound he made. Goddamn, that was hot.

But it made no sense.

"I think I missed something," Tony said as his girlfriend and Natasha broke the kiss and pulled back until they could sit back in their seats.

"We've been talking about a few things," Pepper told him, giving Bucky and then Steve a lingering speculative look, "but before anyone makes any final decisions we need to all sit down and have a discussion together about all the implications and logistics. None of which I think we want to do in public."

Natasha jumped in. "What Pepper is very carefully not saying is that we have been considering the idea of opening our relationship to you two, if you are willing. We will need to ask Rhodes as well, but Pepper informs me he has been pursuing his Carol more seriously, of late."

Stunned, Tony turned to look at Steve. "Is that true?"

"It is." Steve gave him a once over that left him almost tingling.

Bucky grinned. "Say yes, sweetheart," he suggested broadly. "I been curious about you since that first day you hit on us."

He turned to Pepper, who was giving him a surprisingly hopeful look. "If you don't want to, there's no pressure to say yes," she said quietly.

They definitely needed to talk about this some more. "Ask me again later," he told her.

Steve and Bucky looked disappointed but didn't protest. Natasha looked pleasantly surprised, like she hadn't expected him to want to think it over. He knew he needed to, though. For all that he tended to make snap decisions about things that wouldn't matter in more than the short term... this could potentially haunt him for years. And he needed to grill Pepper about this.

"We will pick up the topic again after the holiday," Natasha decided. "In the interim, Pepper can tell you what we have talked about so far."

Tony nodded, not sure if he felt more trepidation or anticipation.

Natasha gave him a speculative look. "I must admit that I am curious, myself."

Tony glanced at Pepper, who simply smiled her Mona Lisa smile, giving nothing away, then back at Natasha.

Steve was the one to break the silence building between them, his voice tone quiet and almost disappointed. "So, if this works out, does that mean we have to assemble a new tabletop group?"

Bucky shook his head in disbelief before he replied. "Your priorities are skewed, Pal."


End file.
